Anderson Silva's Manager Not Interested In Dropping Title, Henderson Rematch

Posted Aug 11, 2009 9:00PM By Ariel Helwani (RSS feed)

Filed Under: UFC

Anderson Silva's manager, Ed Soares, says "The Spider" has no intentions of vacating his UFC middleweight title.

Following Silva's victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 on Saturday, Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel wrote, "With his arm wrapped around [Dana] White's shoulder, Soares leaned in and delivered a proposition. "Spider" Silva would move permanently to light heavyweight, even if it meant the unorthodox move of giving up his middleweight belt."

On Tuesday, Soares told FanHouse that he "never had that conversation" with White. FanHouse contacted Wetzel, and he stood by his report, noting that he witnessed the exchange after the event.

Regardless, Soares said Silva will not be dropping the title to permanently compete as a light heavyweight.

"That's not how Anderson feels, and that's not how we feel," he said. "We're not giving up the belt.

" ... We're not going to give up the belt, no. He has the 185-pound belt, Lyoto has the 205-pound belt, and that's how it's going to stay. Anderson is not going to fight Lyoto, and that's it."

White has hinted that Silva will defend his title against Dan Henderson next, but Soares said he doesn't consider Henderson to be the top contender in the UFC's middleweight division.

"If he wants to be a valid contender, I think he should fight the winner of Nate Marquardt against Demian Maia [at UFC 102], and that will provide a true No.1 contender."

When asked what he plans to do if or when the UFC offers a Henderson title fight, Soares quickly replied that, "We're going to explain to them our situation," and that he thinks White "will listen."

Silva defeated Henderson at UFC 82 in March 2008 via second-round rear naked choke submission in a UFC-PRIDE middleweight title unification bout. Since then, Henderson has won his last three fights in a row.

Soares said he believes Silva's next fight will be contested in the 205-pound weight class, unless the UFC can offer a "valid contender."

"We'll fight super-fights at 205 [pounds] until a valid contender comes up," he said.

"We just want to fight the best guys that are possible to fight."

However, fans can forget about ever seeing Silva compete against current 205-pound champion Lyoto Machida, as both fighters are good friends and train together.

"I feel pretty confident that's not going to happen," Soares said.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-11-2009 @ 9:18PM

john said...

Boy. I wish every article on this site was by Ariel and the other Mike. MDS is really going out of his way to push Fedor left and right even when he doesn't belong. And he treats his top 10 pound for pound list like they matter. Sherdog has the right order on that list, and that's that. Ariel. Please take over this site man. Am tired of reading all this pro Fedor crap.

8-11-2009 @ 9:38PM

Cliff said...

eckored.....

Seriously guy. You have no respect for Silva? None? All I can say is wow. I think that is all we as an MMA community need to know about you and your opinions. You obviously don't live in reality. If you want to talk about dodged competition go suckle on the Fedor ball. Silva just destroyed a guy who could give Fedor a decent fight and yet you have no respect for him. Hmmm. Machida is his friend. AND he has even said that Machida would be a "problem" for him because Machida is good. But I think if you asked Machida the same thing, he'd say his biggest threat would also be Anderson.

Seriously guy...get a little more objective and live in reality if you are going to publicly comment.

8-11-2009 @ 11:06PM

mitch said...

He is not going to drop the belt or the Hendo fight.This is an attempt to drive up the purses.Hendo has given him the best fight since he signed with the UFC.Hendo won the first round and has never been ko'd.Get ready for the hype!

I would love to see them fight again.Hendo is just as deserving as anyone and probably as likely to win as anyone.But I would not bet against Spider.

8-12-2009 @ 12:10AM

richardbikle said...

sounds like they're ducking hendo. guess they're worried they could get 5 rounds next time like the first one of the last fight.
just who does that jackass think he is hendo not deserving. what a wanker.

8-14-2009 @ 9:33PM

JD said...

He IS the Middleweight champion of the world.
With a winning streak currently unparalled.
He has EARNED the right to pick his fights.

Yes he is ducking Hendo. He doesnt want to fight another Cote/Leites match and I dont want to see it.
Hendo never passed, never tried a submission, never DID anything but dry-hump Silva in his guard and lay baby hammer fists to his temple. Silva was never in danger, never hurt and never worried. zzzzzZZZZZZ

If Hendo is so good why did he lose?

8-12-2009 @ 1:32PM

kinda of a stretch to blame hendo for the way silva fought against cote and leites. if you dont like hendo's ground game, one of the best in mma, maybe kickboxing suits you more. you know, martial art, instead of mixed martial arts.

i promise you its only guys that never spent a minute on the mat that call it lay and pray, and guys that see it as dry humping... well they know what they like.

hendo was opening a gym and distracted last time, this time wolnt be like that. hendo never subs anyone, he grinds them out. silva doesnt want 5 rounds like the first round of their last fight.

8-12-2009 @ 2:01AM

so why is it that comments disappear all the time?

Is it people whining about the content? Like when I say Fedor is totally overrated and would get owned by Silva.

Or is it a moderator or something?

Just curious..

8-12-2009 @ 8:35AM

jay said...

If people question Hendo's ability, why not have him face the winner of Marquardt and Maia, say late this year/early 2010? In the mean time have Silva face another good LHW?

8-12-2009 @ 8:38AM

So if people question Hendo's ability or worthiness of being the middleweight's top contender, then why not just have him fight the winner of Marquardt versus Maia come late 2009/early 2010???

In the mean time have Silva face another LHW???

8-12-2009 @ 9:03AM

CJ said...

hendo didn't lose to silva via rear naked choke, it was a triangle choke.

8-12-2009 @ 9:06AM

nevermind, i'm dumb. :)

8-12-2009 @ 9:12AM

Matthew said...

How is Hendo not worthy. He had two belts in pride. Lost to arguably the best fighter in the world. Was the only person to win a round vs silva. Then demolished the next three dudes he faced. Where is there no worthiness of a title shot?

8-12-2009 @ 12:09PM

daviddrvd said...

henderson-when he has his mind set to do something he's a dangerous contender...he probably could beat silva after all he is human he can be beat any given day maybe those hammerfists were more lethal than some thought if hendos cardio is up to par he can take the belt he's gotta granite chin also helpful grappling skills are phenominal he can take him all the way

8-13-2009 @ 3:28PM

pettythedragon7 said...

Well i think henderson is the most deserving but I do like the idea of him fighting the winner of marquat and maia. that way anderson will have another fight at 205 and would be another exciting fight. I bet its winner of Jardine and Thaigo Silva. Because they fight in the next event. and shogun is having a title shot and rampage and rashad fight at the end of the year so those big 3 contenders r to busy.

8-15-2009 @ 6:54PM

Not "blaming" Hendo. Just comparing him to others who really shouldnt be fighting Silva.

I didnt say L&P I said he didnt take advantage of a good position to win/finish the fight.

Yeah, guys with no reply always 'go there'
He was dry humping. I know his style and he didnt even try to posture up and GnP...just once which wasnt effective either.

And indeed Silva doesnt want 5 rounds like the first thats why he came back in the 2nd, adjusted his attack and won. Why should he have to do it again? Instead of waiting til the 2nd he'll just adjust his attack, since he knows what Hendo will do, and win in the 1st rd this time.

8-15-2009 @ 8:29PM

Joe said...

Silva probably would win if they fought again but I still would want to see that fight. Hendo is getting old and probably doesn't have a lot of title shots left in him so I hope he gets one soon. Silva is oversized at middle-weight and his dominance of the middleweight division isn't that impressive to me. He is 6'2" and walks around at 220 lbs. Hendo has had a more impressive career than Silva. Hendo was the champ in middle-weight and light heavy-weight division in Pride when Pride was awesome. He truly was undersized in a lot of his fights at 5'11", unlike Silva who walks around 35 lbs above the middle-weight limit and 15 lbs above the light heavy-weight limit. Hendo is 38 and would have mopped the floor with Silva in his younger days. He is very deserving of another shot. The only person more deserving is Damien Maia, but Dana has waited to give Maia a shot because he is afraid of a boring fight because of Maia's style. Dana isn't fair to his fighters because he is all about money and if a fighter is very deserving but not very marketable, he hesitates to give them a title shot. He knows Silva vs. Maia could possibly get booed by the fans because when Silva fights a good jiu-jitsu fighter he is scared to go to the ground with them like he was against Leites. It's funny how Dana likes to overstate how Silva is by far the best pound for pound fighter in MMA but he couldn't even finish Leites who Dana doesn't even think is good enough to fight in the UFC. Dana needs to realize that this is Mixed Martial Arts not Silva's style Martial Arts. Why should everyone have to fight Silva's style or risk being cut by the UFC. The fans booed Silva too for his lack of forcing the fight. He had Leites down but was too scared to do anything about it. His attitude is fight my way or I won't fight. GSP has never had a boring fight because he forces the fight regardless of style. Silva is oversized and over-rated for a middle-weight. He should be in the light heavy-weight division permanently. Him fighting at middle-weight would be like GSP fighting at light-weight.